Rock County Libertarian Party collecting school supplies for teachers – Janesville Gazette

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Gazette staff

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

JANESVILLEThe Rock County Libertarian Party is running a school supply drive throughout this week to help stock local classroom teachers' desks.

The group, which is running the event under the name Supplies Party, has left donation drop boxes at four locations in Janesville. Organizers say the drive is for school items more specific for teachers use.

Its list suggests people can donate to the drive such items as staplers, staples, pens, permanent markers and dry-erase markers, rubber bands, Kleenex, file folders, and scissors.

Supplies collected in the drive will be given to teachers Janesville schools and other schools throughout Rock County, depending on how many the group collects.

Supplies Party's donation boxes will be at the following locations in Janesville through Saturday:

--Toppers Pizza, 2201 Humes Road, Janesville

--Exclusive Company, 1259 Milton Ave., Janesville

--Noble Knight Gaming, 2242 Kennedy Road, Janesville

--Alkali Tattoo, 16 S. Main St., Janesville

The drive caps off with a donation day from noon to 2 p.m. at Culver's restaurant, 645 Midland Road, Janesville.

Last updated: 4:16 pm Tuesday, August 22, 2017

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Rock County Libertarian Party collecting school supplies for teachers - Janesville Gazette

Transhumanism Is Not Libertarian, It’s an Abomination | The … – The American Conservative

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Last week in TAC, Zoltan Istvan wrote about The Growing World of Libertarian Transhumanism linking the transhumanist movement with all of its featureslike cyborgs, human robots and designer babiesto the ideas of liberty. To say Mr. Istvan is mistaken in his assessment is an understatement. Transhumanism should be rejected by libertarians as an abomination of human evolution.

We begin with Mr. Istvans definition of transhumanism:

transhumanism is the international movement of using science and technology to radically change the human being and experience. Its primary goal is to deliver and embrace a utopian techno-optimistic worlda world that consists of biohackers, cyborgists, roboticists, life extension advocates, cryonicists, Singularitarians, and other science-devoted people.

The ultimate task, however, is nothing less than overcoming biological human death and to solve all humanitys problems. Throughout much of Mr. Istvans work on this issue, he seems to think these ideas are perfectly compatible with libertarianismself-evident evenso he doesnt care to elaborate for his befuddled readers.

While most advocates of liberty could be considered, as Matt Ridley coined it, rational optimistsmeaning that generally we are optimistic, but not dogmatic, about progressit is easy to get into a state in which everything that is produced by the market is good per se and every new technology is hailed as the next step on the path of progress. In this sense, these libertarians become what Rod Dreher has called Technological Men. For them, choice matters more than what is chosen. [The Technological Man] is not concerned with what he should desire; rather, he is preoccupied with how he can acquire or accomplish what he desires.

Transhumanists including Mr. Istvan are a case in point. In his TAC article he not only endorses such things as the defeat of death, but even robotic hearts, virtual reality sex, and telepathy via mind-reading headsets. Need more of his grand ideas? How about brain implants ectogenesis, artificial intelligence, exoskeleton suits, designer babies, gene editing tech? At no point he wonders if we should even strive for these technologies.

When he does acknowledge potential problems he has quick (and crazy) solutions at hand: For example, what would happen if people never die, while new ones are coming into the world in abundance? His solution to the fear of overpopulation: eugenics. It is here where we see how libertarian Mr. Istvan truly is. When his political philosophythe supposedly libertarian onecomes into conflict with his idea of transhumanism, he suddenly drops the former and argues in favor of state-controlled breeding (or, as he says, controlled breeding by non-profit organizations such as the WHO, which is, by the way, state financed). I cautiously endorse the idea of licensing parents, a process that would be little different than getting a drivers licence. Parents who pass a series of basic tests qualify and get the green light to get pregnant and raise children.

The most frustrating thing is how similar he sounds to communists and socialists in his arguments. In most articles you read by transhumanists, you can see the dream of human perfection. Mr. Istvan says so himself: Transhumanists want more guarantees than just death, consumerism, and offspring. Much More. They want to be better, smarter, strongerperhaps even perfect and immortal if science can make them that way.

Surely it is the goal of transhumanists that, in their world, the average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. You can just edit the genes of the embryo in the way that they are as intelligent as Aristotle, as poetic as Goethe, and as musically talented as Mozart. There are two problems, though: First, the world would become extremely boring, consisting only of perfect human beings who are masters at everything (which perhaps would make human cooperation superfluous). Second, that quote was famously uttered by the socialist Leon Trotsky.

As Ludwig von Mises wrote sarcastically, the socialist paradise will be the kingdom of perfection, populated by completely happy supermen. This has always been the mantra of socialists, starting with utopian thinkers like Charles Fourier, but also being embraced by the scientific ones like Marx, who derived his notion of history in which communism is the final stage of humanity from Hegel. Hegel himself believed in the man-godnot in the way that God became man through Jesus, but that man could become God one day. Intentionally or not, transhumanists sound dangerously similar to that. What they would actually create would be the New Soviet Man through bio-engineering and total environmental control as the highest social goal. In other words, you get inhuman ideological tyranny taken to a whole new level.

It should be noted that sometimes transhumanists recognize this themselvesbut if they do, their solutions only make things worse (much worse). Take Adam Zaretsky as example, who says that these new human beings shouldnt be perfect: Its important to make versions of transgenic human anatomy that are not based on idealism. But his solution is frightening: The idea is that you take a gene, say for pig noses, or ostrich anuses, or aardvark tongue, and you paste that into a human sperm, a human egg, a human zygote. A baby starts to form. And: We could let it flow into our anatomy, and these peoplewho yes, are humansshould be appreciated for who and what they are, after they are forced to be born in a really radically strange way. Its no surprise that Rod Dreher calls Mr. Zaretsky a sick monster, because he truly seems to be one when it comes to his transhumanist vision. He wants to create handicapped human beings on purpose.

If this were what libertarians think should happen, it would be sad (thankfully its mostly not). As Jeff Deist notes, it is important to remember that liberty is natural and organic and comports with human action. It doesnt require a new man. Transhumanists may say that the introduction of their idea is inevitable (in Istvans words, Whether people like it or not, transhumanism has arrived) but that is not true. And in this sense, it is time for libertarians to argue against the notion of extreme transhumanism. Yes, the market has brought it about and yes, the state shouldnt prohibit it (though giving your baby a pig nose could certainly be a violation of rights), but still, one shouldnt be relativist or even nihilist about such frightening developments. It would be a shame if the libertarian maxim of Everyone should be able to do whatever one wants to (as long as no one is hurt by it) becomes Everyone should do whatever one can do just because it is possible.

Finally, it comes as no surprise that transhumanists are largely, if not all, atheists (or as Mr. Istvan says: Im an atheist, therefore Im a transhumanist. This just proves what the classical liberal historian Lord Acton talked about when he said, Progress, the religion of those who have none. In the end, transhumanism is the final step to get God out of the way. It would be the continuation of what Richard Weaver wrote about in Ideas Have Consequences: Instead of seeing nature, the world and life overall as a means to get to know God, humans in the last centuries have become accustomed to seeing the world as something that is only there for humans to take and use for their own pleasures. Transhumanism would be the final step of this process: the conquest of death.

You dont have to be religious to find this abhorrent. As we have seen, it would be the end to all religion, to human cooperation overall, in all likelihood to liberty itself, and even the good-bye to humanity. It would be the starting point of the ultimate dystopia.

Kai Weiss is an International Relations student and works for the Austrian Economics Center and Hayek Institute, two libertarianthink tanks based in Vienna, Austria.

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Transhumanism Is Not Libertarian, It's an Abomination | The ... - The American Conservative

The Entitled Breeder Part Two: Public Education – Being Libertarian

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In my last entitled breeder article, I spoke about how a non-attentive parent and their child could cause serious damage to both public and private property. I spoke about the reality, that keeping a child safe is solely the responsibility of their parents or other caretaker and thats also how I feel about their education.

Now let me be clear, I am not saying I want an under-educated society. Quite the opposite. And thats part of the reason why I want one of two things. Either privatize the entire school system, or have a section on our tax forms for parents so it is them, and only them, whose taxes fund our failed public-school system.

You see, what enables the entitled breeder mentality are safety nets. Why worry about building a life savings, property ownership when John Q. Taxpayer has your back? The false narrative is that if we have socialized education it will provide quality education for all. Sounds an awful lot like the Affordable Care Act, and we have seen how that has gone.

One of the biggest arguments against privatizing education is the creationists (or whatever bogeyman the left fears) will indoctrinate their children with religion. But guess what? They are sending them to public school on our tax dollars and then indoctrinating them with this as soon as they get home anyway. So, whats the difference? Besides, I would say our public-school system is already doing enough indoctrinating on its own.

And thats actually a terrible argument anyway. If you wanted to raise your children to be vegans or to believe there was something wrong with being white, I wouldnt want the government stopping you from that. Its simple really. Its none of my business and its none of their business.

According to a Google search on that very question, the American taxpayer spent $634 billion in the 2015-2016 school year. Thats $12,509 per public school student. Thats a lot of money just to produce a generation of children that are going to college with this knowledge and deciding I want a gender studies degree.

Some would argue that this is an investment in our future, both as a country and Western society as a whole. I would argue that investments are made voluntarily. That when I invest in something, I am able to do market research and decide of my own volition whether or not to invest.

This will always come back to accountability for me. Who is ultimately responsible for a child? The answer will always be the parents! The fact that I or anybody must point this out is truly sad. The argument from other purported libertarians and constitutional conservatives who preach small government will always have some backwards basis in the worst type of virtue signaling. It will always be a false, disingenuous attempt to make you feel bad for not putting their precious darlings above anything else in your life.

We live in a marvelous time, technologically speaking. The ability to homeschool in an efficient manner is better than ever before. Why more parents are not taking advantage of this is completely bewildering to me. Any person who has ever used the word indoctrination would no longer have a valid defense of such an accusation. Parents and caretakers from all sides of the political spectrum could rejoice in steering their little vessel towards the goal post of their choosing.

The reason why they are not doing this is because we live in a society of act now, think later. A society where people start families without being fully prepared. And its not just limited to the lower class with limited skills. The middle class is known for starting a family long before they are on secure financial footing. I see many of these young professionals, not even 30 years old and still paying off college loans, already married with multiple children. What kind of life is that?

People will always be entitled to have children, always! If that is your bliss, I wish not to rob you of it. I simply do not want to pay for it.

So, I urge you to prepare for parenthood. Dont be afraid to start having children in your 30s. Invest in your career first, even waiting to get a few promotions. You might just find that having offspring that arent a tax burden is a rewarding feeling. Plus, as we know, taxation is theft, even when its your kid.

Featured image: Michael Anderson

* Bryce Jackson is a cook and writer from Chelsea, Vermont, who lives in Woodstock where he takes care of his two rescue dogs and his 71-year-old Vietnam veteran father.

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The Entitled Breeder Part Two: Public Education - Being Libertarian

Triad residents among those tapped for posts in NC Libertarian Party – Winston-Salem Journal

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RALEIGH The N.C. Libertarian Party has picked three Triad residents for leadership roles.

Clement Erhardt of Greensboro is the party's treasurer and the slate of at-large members includesAngela Anderson of Winston-Salem andJ.J. Summerell of Greensboro.

Susan Hogarth of Raleigh has been named the Libertarian Party of North Carolina's new chairwoman.

N.C. Libertarian officials elected a new state party chair and a slate of officers during the party's annual convention held in Lake Lure, according to a release.

Nathan Phillips of Asheville was named vice chair, Brent DeRidder of Hampstead will serve as secretary, and the remaing at-large members are Matt Clements of Carrboro, Chris Dooley of Charlotte, James Hines of Asheville, Amy Lamont of Oxford, Ryan Teeter of Hampstead, Andreas Steude of Cary, and Alec Willson of Asheville.

Summerell was the Libertarian candidate for North Carolina's 1st Congressional District in 2016. Incumbent U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, won re-election with 68.6 percent of the vote, defeating Republican candidate and Stantonsburg town councilman Powell Dew (28.9 percent) and Summerell, who picked up 2.4 percent of the vote.

The Libertarian Party, formed in 1971, is the third-largest political party in the U.S. and North Carolina, as well as the only ballot-recognized alternative party in the state.

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Triad residents among those tapped for posts in NC Libertarian Party - Winston-Salem Journal

Food – Islands Menu | Islands Restaurants

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Burgers

35 years of grilling leads to tastefully crafted burgers done to perfection. Designed for those with a big appetite and great style. All Islands burgers on Islands menu are served with an endless side of fresh cut Island Fries.

Sriracha cream cheese, soy-sriracha glaze, applewood smoked bacon, pickled peppers, pepper jack cheese, lettuce & onion.

BBQ sauce, Island Reds, american cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles & mayo.

Sauted mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, swiss & mayo.

Bleu cheese dressing, lettuce, tomato, red onion & crumbled bleu cheese.

Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles & mustard.

American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles & mustard.

Substitute our tasty turkey or veggie patty for your favorite burger at no extra charge.

Jalapeo & black pepper crusted burger w/pepper jack cheese, chipotle aioli, lettuce, tomato & Island Reds.

Thousand Island dressing, lettuce, pickles, onion & tomato.

Guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onion, swiss & mayo.

Chili, american cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles & mustard.

Fresh pineapple, teriyaki sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, swiss & mayo.

Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, american cheese, applewood smoked bacon & mustard.

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River Action plans to install floating islands in local lagoons – KWQC-TV6

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DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - River Action will be installing five floating islands at the Eastern Avenue Lagoon on Thursday, August 24th at 9:00 am.

Volunteers will be planting about 500 perennial wetland species and will help float and anchor the islands in the Eastern Avenue Lagoon.

Once those islands are installed, three more will be installed in the Credit Island lagoon later in the day.

Floating islands are hydroponically grown plants that manage stormwater by removing suspended solids and contaminants, like heavy metals and nutrients. Blue-green algae also referred to as cyanobacteria, differs from other forms of algae in that they cannot be eaten by other organisms and are formed by an excess amount of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) and sunlight. Cyanobacteria is often the result of agricultural and stormwater runoff.

Algae blooms form floating mats that become so dense that they block out sunlight from reaching other underwater plants and plankton. Because they no longer have the ability to photosynthesize, the water's oxygen level decreases. This creates a dead zone a region that is uninhabitable to most plant and animal life.

The floating islands will absorb the excess nutrients, resulting in a cleaner water system and a reduction of algal blooms. They will also create a food for fish and habitat for birds. The islands can overwinter and last up to ten years!

Just click HERE if you would like to volunteer.

Nahant Marsh will also be installing Islands on Friday, August 25th at 10:00 am.

This project is funded in part by Scott County Regional Authority and Floating Islands International.

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River Action plans to install floating islands in local lagoons - KWQC-TV6

Commemorating WWII History in the Solomon Islands – Smithsonian

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By Lisa Niver

smithsonian.com August 22, 2017 5:33PM

Seventy five years ago, the Battle of Guadalcanal changed the course of World War II in the South Pacific. According to the National World War II Museum statistics, the Solomon Islands Campaign cost the Allies approximately 7,100 men, 29 ships and 615 aircraft. The Japanese lost 31,000 men, 38 ships and 683 aircraft. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy wanted a buffer against attack from the United States and its Allies, and began occupying islands throughout the Pacific Ocean.

When the Japanese began construction on what would later be called Henderson Airfield in July 1942, taking control of this strategic airfield became a primary goal for the US Marine offensive. American forces landed on August 7, 1942 to remove the Japanese from the island. The six-month battle in the Solomon Islands on the most easterly advance of the Rising Sun was crucial to preventing Australia and New Zealand from being cut off from the Allies. This was the first decisive battle of the war in the Pacific in which the Japanese forceswere turned back.

The United States Marines depended upon the Australian Coastwatchers and the Solomon Island Scouts for local knowledge and assistance. Inscribed in a plaque at the Memorial Garden at Henderson Airport, the United States Marines honor them with these words: In the Solomons, a handful of men, Coastwatchers and Solomon Islanders alike, operating side by side often behind enemy lines always against staggering odds, contributed heroically to our victory at Guadalcanal. This partnership between these groups is credited with having saved John F. Kennedy while he was stationed in the area.

Kennedy was at a forward military base on Lubaria Island, where today you can still visit and see the original cement pads from the bakery and mess house, in addition to a well hole. On August 2, 1943, a moonless night, whilepatrolling between Kolombangara Island and Ghizo Island, Kennedyand his crew were on maneuvers in their patrol boat (PT 109) and in the path of the Japanese destroyer, Amagiru Maru. After being struck, their boat broke apartand began to sink. Two of the seamenAndrew Jackson Kirksey and Harold W. Marneywere killed, and the remaining eleven survivors swam through flames towards land. Coastwatcher Reg Evans saw the flames and sent two scouts to search for survivors.

There were Japanese camps on thelarger islands like Kolombangara, and Kennedy's crewswam to the smaller and deserted Plum Pudding Island to the southwest. The men worked together to push a makeshift raft of timbers from the wreckto move the injured and non-swimmers. Kennedy, a strong swimmer and former member of the Harvard University swim team, pulled the injured Patrick McMahon by clenching his life jacket strap in his mouth. After nearly four hours and more thanthree miles, they reached their first island destination. In search of food and water, they had to swim to another small slip of landnamed Kasolo Island, where they survived on coconuts for several days.

Island scouts Biuku Gaza and Eroni Kumana searched for survivors in their dugout canoe. If spotted by Japanese ships or aircraft, they hoped to be taken fornative fisherman. When Gasa and Kumana found Kennedy, Gasa encouraged him to carve a message in a coconut shell. This message enabled them to coordinate their rescue:

NAURO ISL COMMANDER... NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT... HE CAN PILOT... 11 ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT... KENNEDY

Years later, that carved coconut shell sat on Kennedys desk in the Oval Office and served as a reminder of his time in the dangerous waters. Kasolo Island is now called Kennedy Island. And on August 3, 2017, Kennedys100th birthday portrait and the 75th Anniversary monument was unveiled at ceremonies on both Kennedy Island and Lubaria Island.

Touring the area is an opportunity to explore what happened on the Solomon Islands three quarters of a century ago.Today, on the islands pristine beaches, the violence of the battlefield feels long agobut physical reminders remain. The area is a graveyard of dozens of World War II destroyers, military ships and aircraft in the clear waters surrounding the islands, and makes for an incredible chance toSCUBA dive through history.

PLACES YOU CAN VISIT TODAY

Diving: see the planes, boats, submarines underwater from WWII.

Dive the Toa Maru in Gizo, which is similar in size to the ship that rammed Kennedys PT boat. Explore to 90 feet underwater in Mundo and visit the Airacobra P-39 fighter from the USAF 68th Fighter Squadron and the nearby Douglas SBD-4 Dauntless dive bomber,which was hit by fire during a raid on Munda on July 23, 1943.

In Honiara: I-1 submarine, B1 and B2.

In Munda:wreck diving.

Museums:

Vilu War Museum

Explore the open-air museum at Vilu and walkamong planes from the World War II dogfights.

Skull Island:

The ancestors of the Roviana people were warriors, and their skills as trackers enabled them to assist the United States in the battles fought on land and over water.

Peter Joseph WWII Museum in Munda.

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Trump Pick to Oversee Worker Protections Promoted Sweatshops – Mother Jones

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Patrick Pizzella worked with Jack Abramoff to organize congressional junkets to this laboratory of liberty.

Noah LanardAug. 22, 2017 6:00 AM

Patrick Pizzella and his former boss Jack Abramoff.Mother Jones

Theres lobbying, and then theres working with Jack Abramoff to promote the sweatshop economy on remote Pacific islands. If you want to know about that kind of lobbying, you can ask Patrick Pizzella, President Donald Trumps pick to be deputy labor secretary. Or maybe you cant.

At a July Senate confirmation hearing, Pizzella said he didnt remember much about the work he did in the late 1990s to help the Northern Mariana Islandsa US commonwealth 1,500 miles from Japandefeat a bipartisan effort to rein in a guest worker program that the Labor Department found reliedonindentured workers. When Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Pizzella whether he knew about reports of forced abortions and routine beatings at the time, Pizzella replied, I was not aware of any such thing. Pressed further, he said reports of abuse by multiple government agencies and newspapers were mere allegations.

What Pizzella didnt say was that he helped lead a public relations campaign to rebrand the islands as a paragon of free-market principles. Between 1996 and 2000, emails and billing records reviewed by Mother Jones show thatPizzella andcolleaguesorganized all-expenses-paidtrips to the islands for more than 100members of Congress, their staffers, andconservative thought leaders. When they got back, Pizzella helped them convince colleagues that the Northern Mariana Islands were, as his old boss Abramoff liked to put it, a laboratory of liberty.

Now Pizzella is poised to become Americas second-highest labor enforcer. If confirmed by the Senate, hell be responsible for holding employers accountable in the Northern Mariana Islands and across the country. (Pizzella, currently the acting chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, a federal agency that handles government employees labor disputes, declined to comment for this story.)

Pizzella at his Senate confirmation hearing in July.

Ron Sachs/ZUMA

Pizzella arrived at the law firm Preston Gates in 1996 as Abramoffs second hire. Smart, likeable, clever, and hardworking, Pat was a perfect addition to the quickly emerging Team Abramoff, Abramoff wrote in his 2011 memoir, Capitol Punishment. Pizzella immediately started reading up on Abramoffs newlobbyingclient: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a string of 14 tropical islands just north of Guamwith a population of about 53,000.

The year before, Abramoff had learned that the CNMI was looking for a lobbyist to fend off increased federal control. During World War II, the islands were under Japanese control until the United States won the Battle of Saipan (the CNMIs main island) in 1944. After a few decades in limbo as part of a United Nations trust, the Northern Mariana Islands opted to join the United States in 1975 as a commonwealth instead of pursuing independence.

The agreement between the islands and the United States granted two exemptions. First, the CNMI could set its own minimum wage. Second, the commonwealthwould be allowed to make its own immigration laws. CNMI officials initially requested control of immigration to ensure that theindigenous population would not be overwhelmed by newcomers.But adecade later,garment manufacturers and theCNMIs governmentdecidedto use the exemption toimport unlimited guest workers to make clothes for companies like Brooks Brothers and Banana Republic. The clothes they produced were stampedMade in the USA and exported to the United States tariff-free.Between 1985 and 1998, CNMI garment exports grew from almost nothing to more than $1 billion annuallyover a third of total CNMI business revenue.

Things were just completely out of control, says Allen Stayman, the top Interior Departmentofficial assigned to the CNMI from 1993 to 1999. Recruiters illegally required many foreign workers to pay fees in order to land jobs in the CNMI, causing them to go into debt that theyd have to work to pay off. Others signed shadow contracts in which they promised their employers not to unionize, date, or practice a religion while working in the CNMI. Some were made to sleep a dozen to a room, with barbed wire surrounding their barracks. If workers complained, the CNMI government, which had close ties tothe garment industry, could deport them immediately. In 1992, Willie Tan, a top garment industry baron, paid a $9 million settlement in a Labor Department suit alleging hed failed to pay workersovertime andtheCNMIs minimum wage of $2.15 an hourcompared with $4.25 elsewhere in the United States. The settlementwasthe largest in Labor Department history at the time.

When Abramoff signed the CNMIgovernmentas a client in July 1995, the USSenate had already unanimously passed a bill to strip the islands of its minimum-wage exemption, setting up what looked to be an uncontentious vote in the House. The year before, representatives from the Interior and Labor departments and the US Immigration and Naturalization Service had testified at a Senate hearing about mistreatment of foreign workers. CNMI Gov. Froilan Tenoriojoined them to say he was disgusted and ashamed by the stories of human rights abuses. Unfortunately, he added at the hearing, they are generally accurate.Still, the workers kept coming. According to a 1998 federal government report, indentured alien workers,mostly from Bangladesh, China, and the Philippines, made up 91 percent of the CNMIs private-sector workforce. The majority of citizens, on the other hand, worked in better-paidgovernmentjobs. Immigration laws that were supposed to protect the CNMIs indigenous population had made many citizens into overlords who were outnumbered by their guest workers.

A garment factory on Saipan in 1997

Charles Hanley/AP

But Tenorio argued that the CNMI could fix the problems without eliminating the exemptions. Other lobbyists, Abramoff wrote in his memoir, told Tenorio that preserving themwas a lost cause. Abramoff disagreed. To save them, Abramoffwrote, he told the governors chief of staff that the CNMI just needed to convince the conservatives running Congress that the fight was about defending a free market.

In a 1995 pitch letter to Tenorio,Abramoff argued that personal tours could help sway public officials. Pizzella led this effort. By his second month on the job, Pizzella was spending more than 100 billable hours per month on the CNMI account, about as much as Abramoff. The centerpiece of Pizzellas work was organizing all-inclusivejunkets for members of Congress and their wives, congressional staffers, and conservative influencerssuch as pollster Kellyanne Fitzpatrickwho now goes by her married name, Kellyanne Conway, and advises President Donald Trumpwith first-class airfare and lodging at the beachfront Hyatt Regency on Saipan. Pats very effective, a former consultant to the CNMI told The New Republic in 2001. Visitors to the island seemed to get all the right information.

Pizzellas first trip, in 1996, included meetings with the governor and the SaipanGarment Manufacturers Association and a tour of a garment factory; some later trips included meetings with human rights activists. Later that year, Abramoff wrote in an email to Herman Guerrero, a CNMI official, that the recent Congressional staff trips have done more good for the CNMI than almost anything we have done in the past.

The leisurely aspect of the trips seemed to help. [S]ome of the group plans to play golf at LaoLao on monday afternoon and Kingfisher on Tuesday afternoon, Pizzella emailed Guerrero, please arrange for that authorization letter to the managers at each course indicating we will be renting clubs etcthat worked very, very well last visit. Another trip included a weekend layover in Hawaii on the way back, according to an email from Pizzella. The New York Times summed up the trips with the headline They Came. They Saw. They Golfed.

The view from the Hyatt on Saipan where Pizzellas guests usually stayed.

drufisher/Flickr

After they got back, they wrote. Clint Bolick, a co-founder of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm, reported shortly after returning that the CNMI boasted perhaps the most vibrant economy in the United States. The secret: largely unregulated markets that in two decades have created out of almost nothing head-spinning economic growth, productivity, and prosperity.

Bolick, who is now a state Supreme Court justice in Arizona, and others were particularly impressed that Gov. Tenorio supported conservative priorities like school vouchers. That wasnt an accident. The year before, Pizzella had discussed vouchers and a flat taxwith the conservative Heritage Foundation and thelibertarian Cato Institute on behalf of the CNMIs government. Our travelers ate this up, Abramoff wrote in his memoir. The conservative groups in Washington had found a new hero in this Democratic governor of our least populated territory.

Another Abramoff tactic, according to a Senate Finance Committee investigation, was to have the CNMI funnel money to a front group, which helped the trips appear independent. Before a 1996 junket, Preston Gates billing records show, Pizzella met with Amy Moritz, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a conservative group that funded several trips for Abramoff, to discuss a CNMI trip and possible funding arrangements. After he got back, Pizzella explained in an email to Abramoff how a report byCato fellow Doug Bandow would be paid for. [T]hat leaves basically the fees for Bandows services and report; and the reimbursement for the bills he accumulated, Pizzella wrote to Abramoff. That should come to about $10,000. That is the amount CNMI should provide as a grant to NCPPR. Then they can cut check to Bandow. Preston Gates billing records include an $8,000 invoice for Bandows trip expenses that lists NCPPR as the vendor.

After the trip, Bandow started writing a report for the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute. Pizzella had about a dozen discussions with Bandow and Marlo Lewis, a CEI executive, about the report, according to billing records. As the publication date got closer, Pizzella, Abramoff, and Michael Soussan, a junior Preston Gates lobbyist, also edited and provided comments on drafts. The final report called the CNMI a center of policy innovation and laboratory of liberty that could serve as a model for the rest of the country. (Bandow would later lose his position at Cato for accepting money from Abramoff to write favorable op-eds about the CNMI and other clients; he subsequently returned to the think tankand is nowa senior fellow there. Bandow did not respond to requests for comment.)

The next year, Soussan traveled to the CNMI with Pizzella, according to his memoir and billing records. As usual, the guests toured a garment factory. The point of my presence at the scene, Sousann wrote in the memoir, was to help these factory owners get away with exploitation. Without specifically naming Pizzella, he wrote that Pat, the team leader of the Congressional delegation, put a different spin on it, saying, See? Working conditions are not as horrible as the press would have us believe. On the way out, he recalled, they got a special treat: discounted clothes. The pride I felt for my job at that moment made me want to put a bullet through my head, Soussan wrote.(Soussan did not respond to requests for comment.)

When Stayman, the Interior Department official,went to the CNMI with Sens. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) in the mid-1990s,he says, they attended the usual meetings arranged by localgovernment officials, before feigning jet lag and returning to their hotel. Then, in the evening, they left the hotel and got a different tour from Labor Department investigators and Christian human rights activists. They were quickly persuaded, Stayman says. Like I said, it was all Potemkin village. Murkowski later told PBS that calling the conditions unacceptable was putting it mildly.

But Abramoffs close relationship with House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, who visited the CNMI for New Years in 1997, ensured that Murkowski and Akakas attempts to revoke the CNMIs immigration and minimum-wage exemptions met a certain death in the House. DeLay called the islands a perfect petri dish of capitalism, adding, Its like my Galapagos Island. (Abramoff could not be reached for comment.)

As Abramoffs clout expanded, Preston Gates payments from the islands rose from $100,000 in 1995 to more than $3 million in 1997. (In 2001, TheNew Republicreported thatPizzella made $175,000 per year.)Then Tenorios uncle ousted him from the governorship as the islands tourism industry tanked during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The next year, Preston Gates CNMI income dropped by more than half. To cover the shortfall, Abramoff turned to WillieTan, the garment magnate.In a 1998 memo to a Tan Holdings official, Abramoff laid out a six-part strategy for representing Tan and the government. Pizzella was tasked with running the trips programthe importance of which cannot be overstated, Abramoff wrote.

Jack Abramoff leaves a federal courthouse after entering a plea agreement on three felony charges.

CQ Roll Call/AP

In 2001, Abramoff moved on to the lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig, where he continued to work on behalf of the CNMI. Instead of following him, Pizzella joined the George W. Bush administration as the chief of staff in the Office of Personnel Management. But Pizzella had made his mark as a lobbyist for the CNMI. By 2001, more than 100 thought leaders and lawmakers had made the journey to the CNMI, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journaland other outlets. If you were a conservative intellectual and you didnt get invited, you just knew you werent cool, a source told The New Republics Franklin Foer in 2001.In 2007 and 2008, after Abramoff and Pizzella had stopped lobbying for the CNMI government, Congress overwhelmingly passed bills revoking the islands wage and immigration exemptions. Following a World Trade Organization agreement eliminating tariffs on US apparel importsfrom abroad in 2005,the CNMIs garment industry all but disappeared.

Hardly anyone seemed to notice when Pizzella was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be an assistant labor secretary a few months into the Bush administration. Wait, exactly who is this guy again? the textile unions legislative director asked Foer at the time. Six months removed from lobbying, Pizzella was already calling his CNMI work ancient history. I dont want to go down memory lane, he said in the June 2001 story. (President Barack Obamas nomination of Pizzella to the Federal Labor Relations Authority in 2013 was similarly uncontroversial.)

At Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff took his influencing to new, and frequently illegal, levels. In 2008, he received a four-year prison sentence for charges including corrupting public officials, tax evasion, and conspiracy. The fraud Abramoff perpetrated against Native American clients got most of theattention, but in Abramoffs plea deal, a January 2000 trip to the CNMI was included as one of many examples of how Abramoff provided golf and other things of value in exchange for official acts and influence.Twenty-one peoplewere ultimately found guilty in the Abramoff scandal.Pizzella was not charged.

At Pizzellas July confirmation hearing, Franken mentioned the people convictedin the Abramoff scandal. Pizzella was careful to point out, I was not one of them. Franken didnt seem particularly impressed. I understand that, hedeadpanned.Congratulations.

Image credit: Pizzella: Ron Sachs/ZUMA; Abramoff: Pablo Alcala/ZUMA

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At Least 1 Dead After Earthquake Hits Italian Resort Island – TIME

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(ROME) An earthquake rattled the Italian resort island of Ischia at the peak of tourist season Monday night, killing at least one person and trapping a half dozen others, including children, under collapsed homes.

Police said all but one of the people known to be trapped were responding to rescuers and were expected to be extracted alive. One person, however, wasn't responding, raising worries the death toll could increase, said Giovanni Salerno of the financial police.

Italy's national volcanology institute said the temblor struck a few minutes before 9 p.m., just as many people were having dinner. The hardest-hit area was Casamicciola, on the northern part of the island.

There was great discrepancy in the magnitude reported: Italy's national vulcanology agency put the initial magnitude at 3.6, though it revised it to a 4.0 sustained magnitude with a shallow depth of 5 kilometers (3 miles) in the waters just off the island. The U.S. Geological Survey and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center gave it a 4.3 magnitude, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

While such discrepancies and revisions are common, Italian officials complained that the Italian agency's initial low 3.6-magnitude greatly underestimated the power of the temblor.

At least one hotel and parts of a hospital were evacuated. A doctor at the Rizzoli hospital, Roberto Allocca, told Sky TG24 that some 26 people were being treated for minor injuries at a makeshift emergency room set up on the hospital grounds. He said the situation was calm and under control.

Salerno confirmed one woman was killed by falling masonry. At least three people were extracted from the rubble, the civil protection said.

Civil protection crews, already on the island in force to fight the forest fires that have been ravaging southern Italy, were checking the status of the buildings that suffered damage.

Together with the nearby island of Capri, Ischia is a favorite island getaway for the European jet set, famed in particular for its thermal waters. Casamicciola was the epicenter of an 1883 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people.

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At Least 1 Dead After Earthquake Hits Italian Resort Island - TIME

How Jewish activism has wiped out Tay-Sachs – The Times of Israel

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JTA Parents of children born with Tay-Sachs disease talk about three deaths.

There is the moment when parents first learn that their child has been diagnosed with the fatal disease. Then there is the moment when the childs condition has deteriorated so badly blind, paralyzed, non-responsive that he or she has to be hospitalized. Then theres the moment, usually by age 5, when the child finally dies.

There used to be an entire hospital unit 16 or 17 beds at Kingsbook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn devoted to taking care of these children. It was often full, with a waiting list that admitted new patients only when someone elses child had died.

But by the late 1990s that unit was totally empty, and it eventually shut down. Its closure was a visible symbol of one of the most dramatic Jewish success stories of the past 50 years: the near-eradication of a deadly genetic disease.

Since the 70s, the incidence of Tay-Sachs has fallen by more than 90 percent among Jews, thanks to a combination of scientific advances and volunteer community activism that brought screening for the disease into synagogues, Jewish community centers and, eventually, routine medical care.

Until 1969, when doctors discovered the enzyme that made testing possible to determine whether parents were carriers of Tay-Sachs, 50 to 60 affected Jewish children were born each year in the United States and Canada. After mass screenings began in 1971, the numbers declined to two to five Jewish births a year, said Karen Zeiger, whose first child died of Tay-Sachs.

In the days before Facebook or email, activists and organizers spread the word about mass Tay-Sachs screenings through newspaper and magazine articles, posters at synagogues, and items in Jewish organizational newsletters. (Courtesy of National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association/via JTA)

It had decreased significantly, said Zeiger, who until her retirement in 2000 was the State of Californias Tay-Sachs prevention coordinator. Between 1976 and 1989, there wasnt a single Jewish Tay-Sachs birth in the entire state, she said.

The first mass screening was held on a rainy Sunday afternoon in May 1971 at Congregation Beth El in Bethesda, Maryland. The site was chosen in part for its proximity to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. One of the two doctors who discovered the missing hexosaminidase A enzyme, John OBrien, was visiting a lab there, and another Johns Hopkins doctor, Michael Kaback, had recently treated two Jewish couples with Tay-Sachs children, including Zeigers. Zeigers husband, Bob, was also a doctor at Johns Hopkins.

The screenings used blood tests to check for the missing enzyme that identified a parent as a Tay-Sachs carrier.

With the help of 40 trained lay volunteers and 15 physicians, more than 1,500 people volunteered for testing and were processed through the system in about 5 hours, Dr. Kaback later recalled in an article in the journal Genetics in Medicine. For me, it was like having written a symphony and hearing it for the first time and it went beautifully, without glitches.

A machine to process the tests cost $15,000. We had bazaars, cake sales, sold stockings, and thats how we raised money for the machine, Zeiger said.

Before screening, couples in which both parents were Tay-Sachs carriers almost always stopped having children after they had one child with Tay-Sachs, for fear of having another, Ruth Schwartz Cowan wrote it in her book Heredity and Hope: The Case for Genetic Screening.

But with screening, Tay-Sachs could be detected before birth, and carrier couples felt encouraged to have children, she wrote.

People named their kids after him

Dr. Kabacks work helped enable thousands of parents who were Tay-Sachs carriers to have other, healthy children.

What he did for Tay-Sachs and how he helped so many families was amazing, Zeiger said. People named their kids after him.

The screenings were transformative, and the campaign to get Jews tested for Tay-Sachs took off. This was before the advent of Facebook or email, so activists and organizers spread the word about screenings through newspaper and magazine articles, posters at synagogues, and items in Jewish organizational newsletters. Volunteers and medical professionals spoke on college campuses and sent promotional prescription pads to rabbis, obstetricians, and gynecologists. Doctors and activists enlisted rabbis and community leaders to encourage couples to be tested before getting married.

Another early mass screening event was held at a school in Waltham, Massachusetts, guided by Edwin Kolodny, a professor at New York University medical school. The first mass screening in the Philadelphia area was on November 12, 1972, at the Germantown Jewish Center, and drew 800 people, according to a Yale senior thesis by David Gerber, Genetics for the Community: The Organized Response To Tay-Sachs Disease, 1955-1995.

Nearly half a century later, the Tay-Sachs screening effort remains a model for mobilizing a community against genetic disease. Parent activists, scientists and doctors are trying to emulate that model with other diseases and other populations.

You cant be complacent, because now there are 200 diseases you can test for

You cant be complacent, because now there are 200 diseases you can test for, said Kevin Romer, president of the Matthew Forbes Romer Foundation and a past president of the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association. The foundation is named for Romers son Matthew, who died of Tay-Sachs in 1996.

Romer and others involved with this issue stress the importance of screening interfaith couples, too. Non-Jews may also benefit from pre-conception screening for Tay-Sachs and other diseases. Some research indicates, for example, that Louisiana Cajuns, French Canadians and individuals with Irish lineage may also have an elevated incidence of Tay-Sachs.

Heredity and Hope: The Case for Genetic Screening, by Ruth Schwartz Cowan. (Courtesy)

Scientific progress means that Jews can now be screened for over 200 diseases with an at-home, mail-in test offered by JScreen. The four-year-old nonprofit affiliated with Emory Universitys Department of Human Genetics has screened thousands of people, and the subsidized fee for the test about $150 includes genetic counseling.

While some genetic tests are standard doctors office procedure for pregnant women or couples trying to get pregnant with a doctors help, JScreen aims for pre-conception screening. The test includes diseases common in those with Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi backgrounds as well as general population diseases, making it relevant for Jewish couples and interfaith couples.

Carrier screening gives people an opportunity to plan ahead for the health of their future families. We are taking lessons learned from earlier screening initiatives and bringing the benefits of screening to a new generation, said Karen Arnovitz Grinzaid, executive director of JScreen. It was a path pioneered by the Tay-Sachs screening that began in 1971.

In Cowans book, she mentions a chart prepared by Dr. Kaback reporting on 30 years of screening: 1.3 million people screened, 48,000 carriers detected, 1,350 carrier couples detected, 3,146 pregnancies monitored.

Kaback and his colleagues could well have stopped there, she wrote. But they did not. There is one more figure, the one that matters most and that goes the furthest in explaining why Ashkenazi Jews accept carrier screening after monitoring with pre-natal diagnosis, 2,466 unaffected offspring were born to parents who were both Tay-Sachs carriers.

This article was sponsored by and produced in partnership with JScreen, whose goal of making genetic screening as simple, accessible, and affordable as possible has helped couples across the country have healthy babies. To access testing 24/7, request a kit at JScreen.org or gift a JScreen test as a wedding present. This article was produced by JTAs native content team.

Widespread testing is credited with helping reduce the incidence of Tay-Sachs among Jews by more than 90 percent since screenings began in the early 1970s. (Courtesy of National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association/via JTA)

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How Jewish activism has wiped out Tay-Sachs - The Times of Israel

Gene editing used to repair diseased genes in embryos – NHS Choices

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Deadly gene mutations removed from human embryos in landmark study, reports The Guardian. Researchers have used a gene-editing technique to repair faults in DNA that can cause an often-fatal heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

This inherited heart condition is caused by a genetic change (mutation) in one or more genes. Babies born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy have diseased and stiff heart muscles, which can lead to sudden unexpected death in childhood and in young athletes.

In this latest study researchers used a technique called CRISPR-cas9 to target and then remove faulty genes. CRISPR-cas9 acts like a pair of molecular scissors, allowing scientists to cut out certain sections of DNA. The technique has attracted a great deal of excitement in the scientific community since it was released in 2014. But as yet, there have been no practical applications for human health.

The research is at an early stage and cannot legally be used as treatment to help families affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. And none of the modified embryos were implanted in the womb.

While the technique showed a high degree of accuracy, its unclear whether it is safe enough to be developed as a treatment. The sperm used in the study came from just one man with faulty genes, so the study needs to be repeated using cells from other people, to be sure that the findings can be replicated.

Scientists say it is now important for society to start a discussion about the ethical and legal implications of the technology. It is currently against the law to implant genetically altered human embryos to create a pregnancy, although such embryos can be developed for research.

The study was carried out by researchers from Oregon Health and Science University and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the US, the Institute for Basic Science and Seoul University in Korea, and BGI-Shenzen and BGI-Quingdao in China. It was funded by Oregon Health and Science University, the Institute for Basic Science, the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation, the Moxie Foundation and the Leona M. and HarryB. Helmsley Charitable Trust and the Shenzhen Municipal Government of China. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

The Guardian carried a clear and accurate report of the study. While their reports were mostly accurate, ITV News, Sky News and The Independent over-stated the current stage of research, with Sky News and ITV News saying it could eradicate thousands of inherited conditions and the Independent claiming it opens the possibility for inherited diseases to be wiped out entirely. While this may be possible, we dont know whether other inherited diseases might be as easily targeted as this gene mutation.

Finally, the Daily Mail rolls out the arguably tired clich of the technique leading to designer babies, which seems irrelevant at this point. The CRISPR-cas9 technique is only in its infancy and (ethics aside) its simply not possible to use genetic editing to select desirable characteristics - most of which are not the result of one single, identifiable gene. No reputable scientist would attempt such a procedure.

This was a series of experiments carried out in laboratories, to test the effects of the CRISPR-Cas9 technique on human cells and embryos. This type of scientific research helps us understand more about genes and how they can be changed by technology. It doesnt tell us what the effects would be if this was used as a treatment.

Researchers carried out a series of experiments on human cells, using the CRISPR-cas9 technique first on modified skin cells, then on very early embryos, and then on eggs at the point of fertilisation by sperm. They used genetic sequencing and analysis to assess the effects of these different experiments on cells and how they developed, up to five days. They looked specifically to see what proportion of cells carrying faulty mutations could be repaired, whether the process caused other unwanted mutations, and whether the process repaired all cells in an embryo, or just some of them.

They used skin cells (which were modified into stem cells) and sperm from one man, who carried the MYBPC3 mutation in his genome, and donor eggs from women without the genetic mutation. This is the mutation known to cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Normally in such cases, roughly half the embryos would have the mutation and half would not, as theres a 50-50 chance of the embryo inheriting the male or female version of the gene.

The CRISPR-cas9 technique can be used to select and delete specific genes from a strand of DNA. When this happens, usually the cut ends of the strand join together, but this causes problems so cant be used in the treatment of humans. The scientists created a genetic template of the healthy version of the gene, which they introduced at the same time as using CRISPR-cas9 to cut the mutated gene. They hoped the DNA would repair itself with a healthy version of the gene.

One important problem with changing genetic material is the development of mosaic embryos, where some of the cells have corrected genetic material and others have the original faulty gene. If that happened, doctors would not be able to tell whether or not an embryo was healthy.

The scientists needed to test all the cells in the embryos produced in the experiment, to see whether all cells had the corrected gene or whether the technique had resulted in a mixture. They also did whole genome sequencing on some embryos, to test for unrelated genetic changes that might have been introduced accidentally during the process.

All embryos in the study were destroyed, in line with legislation about genetic research on embryos.

Researchers found that the technique worked on some of the stem cells and embryos, but worked best when used at the point of fertilisation of the egg. There were important differences between the way the repair worked on the stem cells and the egg.

Only 28% of the stem cells were affected by the CRISPR-cas9 technique. Of these, most repaired themselves by joining the ends together, and only 41% were repaired by using a corrected version of the gene.

67% of the embryos exposed to CRISPR-cas9 had only the correct version of the gene higher than the 50% that would have been expected had the technique not been used. 33% of embryos had the mutated version of the gene, either in some or all their cells.

Importantly, the embryos didnt seem to use the template injected into the zygote to carry out the repair, in the way the stem cells did. They used the female version of the healthy gene to carry out the repair, instead.

Of the embryos created using CRISPR-cas9 at the point of fertilisation, 72% had the correct version of the gene in all their cells, and 28% had the mutated version of the gene in all their cells. No embryos were mosaic a mixture of cells with different genomes.

The researchers found no evidence of mutations induced by the technique, when they examined the cells using a variety of techniques. However, they did find some evidence of gene deletions caused by DNA strands splicing (joining) themselves together without repairing the faulty gene.

The researchers say they have demonstrated how human embryos employ a different DNA damage repair system to adult stem cells, which can be used to repair breaks in DNA made using the CRISPR-cas9 gene-editing technique.

They say that targeted gene correction could potentially rescue a substantial portion of mutant human embryos, and increase the numbers available for transfer for couples using pre-implantation diagnosis during IVF treatment.

However, they caution that despite remarkable targeting efficiency, CRISPR-cas9-treated embryos would not currently be suitable for transfer. Genome editing approaches must be further optimised before clinical application can be considered, they say.

Currently, genetically-inherited conditions like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy cannot be cured, only managed to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death. For couples where one partner carries the mutated gene, the only option to avoid passing it on to their children is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. This involves using IVF to create embryos, then testing a cell of the embryo to see whether it carries the healthy or mutated version of the gene. Embryos with healthy versions of the gene are then selected for implantation in the womb.

Problems arise if too few or none of the embryos have the correct version of the gene. The researchers suggest their technique could be used to increase the numbers of suitable embryos. However, the research is still at an early stage and has not yet been shown to be safe or effective enough to be considered as a treatment.

The other major factor is ethics and the law. Some people worry that gene editing could lead to designer babies, where couples use the tool to select attributes like hair colour, or even intelligence. At present, gene editing could not do this. Most of our characteristics, especially something as complex as intelligence, are not the result of one single, identifiable gene, so could not be selected in this way. And its likely that, even if gene editing treatments became legally available, they would be restricted to medical conditions.

Designer babies aside, society needs to consider what is acceptable in terms of editing human genetic material in embryos. Some people think that this type of technique is "playing God" or is ethically unacceptable because it involves discarding embryos that carry faulty genes. Others think that its rational to use the scientific techniques we have developed to eliminate causes of suffering, such as inherited diseases.

This research shows that the questions of how we want to legislate for this type of technique are becoming pressing. While the technology is not there yet, it is advancing fast. This research shows just how close we are getting to making genetic editing of human embryos a reality.

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Gene editing used to repair diseased genes in embryos - NHS Choices

Governors Preparing Bipartisan Health Care Plan For Congress To Consider – NPR

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Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (left) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will present a plan that fleshes out a set of principles they wrote about in an op-ed in The Washington Post. Carolyn Kaster/AP hide caption

In the wake of congressional Republicans' failure to pass a health care bill, two governors from different parties are going to bring their own ideas to Washington.

Staff for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, are working on a joint plan to stabilize the country's health insurance markets. Kasich told Colorado Public Radio's Colorado Matters that they expect to release it ahead of September hearings in the U.S. Senate. They also intend to get other governors from both parties to sign onto the plan, to show support at the state level.

"We're getting very close. I just talked to my guys today, men and women who are working on this with [Hickenlooper's] people, and we think we'll have some specifics here, I actually think we could have it within a week," Kasich said in a joint interview with Hickenlooper that aired Tuesday.

The plan will flesh out a set of principles the two men wrote about in an op-ed in The Washington Post, in which they said another one-party health care plan is "doomed to fail," just like the Republican plans considered this year. In the op-ed, they asserted that the best place to start reform efforts is "to restore stability to our nation's health insurance system."

Bipartisan health care hearings, including the one the governors will appear at, are set to begin just after Labor Day when Congress returns from its August recess. Lawmakers will be consumed with a number of deadlines involving government funding, though sending health care to the back burner.

"I'm not going to get into specifics with you until we have it all ironed out, but it's not going to be some pie-in-the-sky, way-up-there kind of stuff. There will be things that we will address that will have specific solutions. And one of the things we're finding out is the states do have some power to do some things unique to them, as long as these insurance markets are going to be stabilized," Kasich said.

One specific they agree on and would discuss: changing the Affordable Care Act mandate that employers with 50 or more employees provide insurance coverage. The governors say that number is too low, which deters hiring at small companies.

They also agree that the possibility of national single-payer coverage is not on the table in their discussions.

In recent months, Hickenlooper and Kasich have appeared on national television shows to advocate for bipartisan health care reform that includes keeping the Medicaid expansion intact, with both took advantage of in their states. The two governors have even entertained running for the White House on a split ticket.

On whether they think health care should be a "right"

John Hickenlooper: I come from the school that I think it is a right. I'm not sure how much health care is included in that right, but some basic coverage.

John Kasich: I don't think that's that important in this. I mean we want everybody to have health insurance. I mean that's how I feel. Is it a right or is it a privilege or whatever? I don't know why that declaration is important ... The question is how do you do it, and that's what we're working on ... Primary care is important. Catastrophic coverage is important. We don't want anybody to get bankrupted because they get sick.

On what to change about the Affordable Care Act first

Hickenlooper: There are several important things, but the probably top one on our list would be this notion of having some sort of reinsurance [using public money to help insure the sickest people] to make sure the high-cost pool is not causing higher rates for all the people seeking insurance on the private markets ... You use reinsurance in almost every type of insurance program to cut off those "hilltops" as we say.

On why this joint effort may gain traction

Hickenlooper: "[The Senate's health committee] is now holding hearings [starting Sept. 5], and hopefully in those hearings we'll get a chance to present, hopefully, what by that point a number of both Republican and Democratic governors think look like good ideas."

The Colorado Matters website has the full transcript.

This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, Colorado Public Radio and Kaiser Health News.

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Governors Preparing Bipartisan Health Care Plan For Congress To Consider - NPR

Why is Louisiana’s Healthcare so Bad? – Healthline

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The Bayou State ranks last in a recent survey of healthcare systems. Obesity, poverty, and smoking are just a few of the reasons.

How does your states healthcare system compare with the rest of the nation?

According to a new report from WalletHub, Louisiana has the worst healthcare in the country.

Meanwhile, Hawaii has claimed the best state healthcare title once again.

Last year, Healthline reported on annual healthcare rankings by the United Health Foundation, the nonprofit arm of UnitedHealth Group.

WalletHubs report is similar, but uses its own set of metrics for weighting its rankings.

Their results are similar, despite the different varying methodologies.

WalletHub assigned point values based on three primary scores:

At the top of the list, Hawaii is followed by Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and the District of Columbia for best healthcare.

On the other end of the spectrum, the worst begin with Louisiana, followed by Mississippi, Alaska, Arkansas, and North Carolina.

Mark Diana, PhD, chair of Tulane University Department of Global Health Management and Policy, told Healthline that while hes not happy with the rankings, hes not surprised by them.

I think its true that its fairly consistent that Louisiana ranks near the bottom in most efforts to evaluate the general health of states, he said. Typically we go back and forth with Mississippi for 49 and 50.

Louisiana is a poor state, and its a very rural state, said Diana. Those two things tend to go hand in hand, and they also go hand in hand with poorer health outcomes.

Recent census data indicate that Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the United States.

Median household income there is only $45,727, meanwhile the states poverty rate is 19.6 percent the third highest in the country behind New Mexico and Mississippi.

To combat this, Louisiana is one of 31 states that have expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Diana regards the expansion as a real success.

About 1.5 million people out of 4.5 million are on Medicaid in Louisiana, he noted. Thats a third of the population.

If you accept, and I do accept this, and I think that most health policy people agree, that having insurance improves access, and if you have access to a usual source of care, whether it's a primary care physician or whatever, that tends to mean that you have better health outcomes, he said.

The state will need to fight for improved outcomes because, along with poverty, major health epidemics are also plaguing Louisiana.

Currently, the state has some of the highest rates of cancer and heart disease in the country.

Louisianas rate of heart disease is mirrored in its rates of obesity and smoking, both of which are above the national average.

I think its also poor diet, says Diana. Louisiana obviously has a reputation for really good food and really unhealthy food.

Community or behavioral elements of healthcare, such as diet and exercise, are factors that will impact a healthcare system, but tend to reside outside the medical communitys direct control, said Diana.

Delivery of medical care acute moments when healthcare is sought out by an individual due to an illness Diana believes is only a smaller element of a states health, dwarfed by many more external factors.

That connection is relevant to the states high cancer rates, which Diana attributes to industry and chemical manufacturing.

Louisiana has a stretch along the Mississippi River just west of New Orleans thats populated with lots of refineries and plants that have earned it the reputation of being called cancer alley, Diana said.

My suspicion is that if you remove those [areas] from the data, we probably would not be in the top any longer. I think thats not a statewide phenomenon, he added.

Diana is also confident that Louisiana is making strides in certain areas of healthcare, even if they arent necessarily reflected in this years rankings.

Infant mortality rates have dramatically improved over the past few years. Diana said thats thanks largely to Medicaid, which has provided insurance to single pregnant women and children.

Diana also said that through the Medicaid expansion, the state is continually looking into improving their programs.

Finally, he stressed that were some of these rankings better controlled for certain outside factors, they could perhaps look different.

In defense of Louisiana, Id argue that some of these things, like poverty and rurality, are very difficult to influence, says Diana. I suspect if we adjusted for the level of poverty or how much rural population there is, we wouldnt look quite so bad.

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Why is Louisiana's Healthcare so Bad? - Healthline

Senate to begin bipartisan health care push – CNN International

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The Senate health committee announced Tuesday that it will hold two back-to-back hearings on health care September 6 and 7. That will be the first time that Republican and Democratic senators officially gather together to examine potential ways to stabilize the Obamacare marketplace. Witnesses are expected to include governors and state insurance commissioners.

"While there are a number of issues with the American health care system, if your house is on fire, you want to put out the fire, and the fire in this case is in the individual health insurance market," Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Republican chairman of the health committee, said in a statement.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, said: "It is clearer than ever that the path to continue making health care work better for patients and families isn't through partisanship or backroom deals. It is through working across the aisle, transparency, and coming together to find common ground where we can."

One of the panel's main concerns -- that many Americans may have no options on the Obamacare exchange in their area in 2018 -- has largely abated. While several large insurers have pulled out of the individual market, others have stepped up to take their place. Only one county in rural Ohio, with fewer than 350 Obamacare enrollees, remains at risk of having no insurer on its exchange next year.

Another key problem, however, remains unresolved. One reason why many insurers are hiking premiums for 2018 and others are fleeing is because the Trump administration won't commit to continue paying a key Obamacare subsidy. Insurers, along with governors and insurance commissioners, have been pressing the administration to guarantee these cost-sharing reduction payments will be made through 2018. It's vital to the stability of the market, they say.

President Donald Trump agreed last week to make the August payment, despite earlier threats to end what he calls a bailout for insurers. He has not made a decision on future payments.

The hearings follow the GOP's failed attempt last month to repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.

House Republicans had passed a bill earlier this year to gut the law, but Senate Republicans were unable to do the same. Despite months-long efforts by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to rally rank and file members, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John McCain of Arizona ultimately voted "no" in a dramatic late-night scene on the Senate floor.

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Senate to begin bipartisan health care push - CNN International

In a swing district, a Democrat runs on (eventual) single-payer health care – Washington Post

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DETROIT Andy Thorburn, a health insurance executive who is plugging $2 million into a bid to replace Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.), is the latest Democrat pushing the party to embrace single-payer health care even in swing districts. In a video announcement, Thorburn paints thecontest as a referendum on health care, between a Republican who voted for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and a Democrat who wants to move, eventually, to Medicare for all.

First-time Democratic candidate Andy Thorburn released an ad embracing single-payer health care, in his campaign to replace Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.). (Andy Thorburn)

In an interview, Thorburn presented himself as a candidate who could debate health care from a position of total awareness. He ran Global Benefits Group, an international insurance company, until stepping back to the board this year.

The part that really bothered me, when Obama first presented his plan,was my friends and colleaguesstarting their arguments by saying: Hey, we have the best medical system in the world. Why change it? I was like, Look, I cant have a serious discussionwith you if you think that. Its the best system if youre rich. But its clearly not the best for everyone. Yeah, the shah of Iran came here for treatment once thats not the standard!

Progressives, who are stepping up their campaigns to promote single-payer legislation and baiting Republicans into attack ads have struggled with California. The states Democratic-run legislature had passed single-payer legislation during the term of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), knowing it would be vetoed; a new single-payer bill was bottled up by legislators, kicking off months of intraparty infighting.

Thorburn suggested that the Democrats national single-payer debate could start on different terms.

Im aware of the debate, Thorburn said. Look, the tax burden has to go up, but all youre doing is shifting from one pocket to another. And the end of the day, were paying less money for health care, because thats been the experience of every country that went to this system.

Asked about the effect that universal Medicare would have on the private insurance system, Thorburn acknowledged that it would hurt.

Move as quickly as you can, he said. It would have a negative impact on my business, but it would be relatively small. Almost all the countries that have universal insurance also have competitive supplemental insurance industries. Germany has Allianz, one of the biggest insurers in the world.

On Tuesday night in Detroit, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) were holding a town hall meeting to promote specific single-payer legislation in Congress Conyerss HR 676, and Sanderss tbd bill. Thorburn said he would study the bills, suggesting he could cut his own path without undermining anything Democrats were doing.

Im not one of those people who thinks [Nancy] Pelosis terrible, he said, referring to the House minority leader, but Im too much of a novice to think I know who should be speaker.

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In a swing district, a Democrat runs on (eventual) single-payer health care - Washington Post

Austin lands conference focused on health care innovation – MyStatesman.com

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Local health care industry officials on Tuesday said they have enticed a key conference to move to Austin from Atlanta and expect at least 500 top executives to attend next spring.

The third annual Transformation in Health Conference, tentatively scheduled for April or May, relocated to Austin to tap into the regions entrepreneurial and budding health-care ecosystems, the events organizers said.

Austin is a small market, but its an up-and-coming market and has created a reputation that welcomes innovation and supporting innovation, said Fawn Lopez, publisher and vice president of Modern Healthcare magazine, which organizes the conference. We wanted to be in a market thats consistent with the goal and the objective of the transformation summit.

Lopez and her colleagues will coordinate the conference in partnership with the Austin Healthcare Council, which helped draw the event to Austin and announced the deal at a luncheon Tuesday. Gus Cardenas, president of the council, said he expects between 500 and 1,000 executives to attend the two-day event.

This shows the rest of the world we are here, Cardenas said Tuesday morning. Its a small, nascent but growing ecosystem thats looking at new ways of tackling old health problems.

Theres nothing were working on that has the same potential as health care innovation, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said at the luncheon. The possiblities are especially significant for Austin, Adler said, because the city is getting into this in such a big way as the health care industry is undergoing significant changes.

Prior summits drew executives from a broad range of health care companies, Lopez said in a phone interview last week. By bringing together physicians, administrators, suppliers and other stakeholders, the conference could identify ways individuals and organizations were transforming the health care industry.

As an example, Lopez noted the ongoing transition to a model that pays for better overall patient outcomes, rather than a fee paid every time a doctor performs a procedure. That shift is forcing the industry participants from hospitals to physicians to equipment suppliers to rethink their business interactions.

So physicians might not be able to dictate the equipment or supplies they use if those supplies cost a lot more but dont produce better results. Lopez said. That means the companies that supply those products and services now have to participate in efforts to provide greater value.

They now have to get on the same page with the administration as far as cost containment is concerned, she said. If they cant help customers save money and deliver quality care at a lower cost, theyre not going to get a seat at the table.

The conference brings all those industry officials together to discuss new ways to improve care, lower costs and increase efficiency, she said. With the move to Austin, the summit will add new matchmaking opportunities designed to bring together health care startups and investors, Lopez said.

Cardenas and other local officials said Central Texas, despite its relatively small health care industry, is a natural environment for thinking about new innovations in health care systems, operations and especially technology.

The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School has a stated goal to transform health care delivery and systems. An emerging innovation zone near the school is being developed to help foster startups and companies and to help bridge the innovation at the school to the Austin business and residential community.

And earlier this month, Merck, Sharpe & Dohme Corp. officially said it will build its fourth global information-technology innovation center in Austin. The global pharmaceutical company expects to create at least 600 local jobs in the coming years.

People are seeing we have the brain trust, the infrastructure thats in place and the ability to be able to move forward quickly because of an entrepreneurial type of thinking and acceptance of new ideas, Cardenas said.

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Austin lands conference focused on health care innovation - MyStatesman.com

Dems’ New Health Care Ads Literally Follow You Online – Daily Beast

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Its no secret that Democrats want to turn the 2018 midterms into a referendum on Republican efforts to overhaul the health care system. The bigger mystery is how Democrats can do so most effectively.

On Tuesday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee offered one of the more innovative attempts yet, deploying an advertising strategy that is relatively new to the digital content creators and even newer for political party apparatuses.

The spot, which will target voters in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Instead of a traditional thirty-second clip, it optimizes viewer experiences by breaking the advertisement into six-second increments. And instead of being presented all at once on a single website, those six-second increments follow a user as he or she travels around the Internet. In other words, viewers will see the first part of the ad as they begin their day at thedailybeast.com. They will then see a second portion of the ad as they move on to a different website; and then a third portion of the ad as they go to yet another page.

This less disruptive format has been deployed by content providers seeking to grab viewer's attention in an age of Snapchat and short attention spans. But a DSCC official says this is the first time this cycle that they or any other committee has utilized the format. Google helped the committee utilize its technology, the official said.

In the spots released on Tuesday, the committee enacts a text conversation between a child and his or her mother, as they find themselves in an emergency room needing stitches. By the second clip, its revealed that the family has no insurance. By the third clip, it is pointed out that the Republican senator being targeted in the ad cast a vote that, it is suggested, slashed their insurance.

As a factual matter, the advertisements have their holes. The Republican-authored health-care bill never became law, despite the fact that the GOP senators being targeted by the DSCC voted for their nearly passed bill. A stronger argument would be that the Trump administration has made insurance more expensive because of its sabotage of Obamacare. But the DSCC is invested in regaining control of the Senate, not in unseating the president.

Still, the GOP-authored bill was projected to swell the ranks of the uninsured in addition to elevating premiums for the elderly and sick. And that is the message that DSCC is hammering home, now in a more innovative, digitally savvy way.

The Republicans health care plan is striking Americans in their everyday lives and in their most challenging moments -- spiking their costs and stripping away coverage they are depending on so that big insurance companies can get another tax break, said David Bergstein of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. This message reaches voters over a series of direct and compelling spots that tell the story of how the GOP agenda has hurt Americans and their families.

The DSCCs bumper flock ads are part of a larger, six figure, digital ad buy that has also featured six-second bumper YouTube ads and full screen Google takeover ads.

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Dems' New Health Care Ads Literally Follow You Online - Daily Beast

Kennedy talks money, healthcare – The Capitol Fax Blog (blog)

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* WCIAS Mark Maxwell interviewed Chris Kennedy the other day. Click here to watch it all, but heres an excerpt

MAXWELL: Your recent polling, your internal polling, said you were a frontrunner, but yet its a big fight. Youve got a long way to go. Seven other candidates gunning for that top spot, and theres a lot of money in this race. JB Pritzker has $21 million already that hes self-funding in his campaign. Are you going to be able to catch up there? Hows fundraising going lately? I know you brought on Bill Daley.

KENNEDY: Yeah, Bill Daleys been incredible, and well have the resources to compete. Im not worried about the money.

MAXWELL: Are you going to cut a check?

KENNEDY: If you look at the number of donors we have, the number of volunteers, the support across the state is incredible. I know Im ahead in the polls, but Im gonna run this like, uh, like Im the underdog and I think thats an important message to people as well.

Bill Daleys arrival was announced on July 19th

It was a bad quarter, no question about it, Daley told me. There was a lot of political outreach. (But) there wasnt even a finance committee, just a committee of stakeholders.

Fixing that is the first thing on his agenda, Daley said. A full finance committee is being assembled (Daley declined to disclose any names), with an initial meeting set for next week. Lists of fundraising targets will be assembled, and regular calls and contacts made, he continued. Some of that will involve the candidate himself. Chris has to spend more time on it.

Since then, Kennedys campaign has reported just $34,700 in contributions. Now, he could be holding back his deposits in order to make a big splash at the end of the quarter. But youd think a candidate whos been under fire for not raising enough money would want to get out in front of that story by rolling out some big donors.

* On to healthcare

MAXWELL: I want to ask you about healthcare for a minute because a lot of the candidates are weighing in. There was a recent fight over single payer, public option. And I want to see if I can get you to weigh in here. What direction would you like to see the country, and what direction would you like to see the state of Illinois go in how it provides healthcare for people?

KENNEDY: I think there are, there are, there are great examples to us around the country. I dont think we need to invent it all ourselves in Illinois. I think if you at what happened under Governor Romney in Massachusetts and the expansion of Medicaid there and the ability for the state to provide great coverage to people at all economic levels.

MAXWELL: Weve expanded Medicaid in Illinois. One in four residents in this state are on Medicaid.

KENNEDY: And I think we can continue to do that, and in effect migrate towards a single payer system. I think we need to free up Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate pricing.

MAXWELL: That sounds like a slow incremental process youre describing, migrate towards single payer. How long do you think that would take?

KENNEDY: I dont know. But I think were moving, were moving in that direction. Its clear to me that thats where well end up, both as a state and as a country over time. And we ought to be on the front-burner here in Illinois.

MAXWELL: Youre describing it as inertia, something thats already on the track, and maybe a spectator. Would you push that faster?

KENNEDY: Oh, Id definitely push it faster, absolutely. And I think we should continue to expand as best we can by negotiating with the federal government what, uh, what issues and who can be covered in Illinois, then do a better job recruiting people who havent signed up to sign up for the available care in our state now. And I think thats how we get full coverage for everyone. Theres coverage, I mean, the fact is that were just handling it poorly. People are getting sick and going to emergency rooms, and it doesnt have to be like that. The problem with the state is largely we look so, we look inward and not outward, and we ought to look to other states and see what great outcomes are occurring there. We could provide better coverage and better healthcare for people in our state.

MAXWELL: So you mention Massachusetts, RomneyCare. Its a deep blue state there. Theyve had some trial balloons and things on the national healthcare scene. Any other states or any other practices that youve seen in relation to how youd lower drug prices or how you would make medicine more affordable for average Americans?

KENNEDY: I think some of the things theyve done in California are helpful. And California, places like California and Texas have massive populations, and theyve begun to negotiate. And I think we can create a consortium with other states, cooperate. I know that were competitive with the people in Indiana and Wisconsin and Iowa, but we can work with them and create regional competition, or regional buying power, that allows us to use the market to drive down pricing.

Im not sure I completely follow, but OK.

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Kennedy talks money, healthcare - The Capitol Fax Blog (blog)

Designer babies the not most urgent concern of genetic medicine … – Toronto Star

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In this photo provided by Oregon Health & Science University, taken through a microscope, human embryos grow in a laboratory for a few days after researchers used gene editing technology to successfully repair a heart disease-causing genetic mutation. The work, a scientific first led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, marks a step toward one day preventing babies from inheriting diseases that run in the family. ( Oregon Health & Science University via AP)

By Johnny Kung

Mon., Aug. 21, 2017

Recently, an international team of scientists successfully corrected a disease-causing gene in human embryos, using a gene editing technique called CRISPR. This has led to much excitement about the prospects of curing debilitating diseases in entire family lineages.

At the same time, the possibility of changing embryos genes has renewed fear about designer babies. The hype in both directions should be tempered by the fact that both these scenarios are some ways off a lot more work will need to be done to improve the techniques safety and efficacy before it can be applied in the clinic.

And because a lot of diseases, as well as other physical and behavioural characteristics, are controlled by the complex interaction of many genes with each other and with the environment, in many cases simple genetic fixes may never be possible.

But while the technology is still in early stages, now is the time to have frank, open and societywide conversations about how gene editing should be moving forward and genetic medicine more broadly, including the use of advanced genetic testing and sequencing to diagnose disease, personalize medical treatments, screening babies, etc.

We must raise broad awareness of the health benefits as well as the personal, social and ethical implications of genetics. This is important for individuals both to understand their options when making decisions about their own health care, and to participate as informed citizens in democratic deliberations about whether and how genetic technologies should be developed and applied.

In the U.S., affordability and insurance coverage strongly influence access to genetic medicine. In Canada, the reality of strapped budgets means access is far from equal either. But our public health-care system means it is at least conceivable that these technologies will eventually be available to a higher proportion of people who need them.

For example, OHIP currently pays for genetic testing and counselling for a number of diseases, such as http://www.mountsinai.on.ca/care/mkbc/medical-services/genetic-testingBRCA testingEND for breast and ovarian cancer, for patients who satisfy certain eligibility criteria. It also covers a kind of genetic screening tests called non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for eligible pregnant women. Precisely because of this potential for widespread adoption, there is all the greater need for broad-based conversations about genetics.

Crucially, to ensure that the largest possible cross section of society will benefit from, and not be harmed by, advances in genetic technologies, these conversations must include the voices of all communities.

This is especially true for those who, for well-justified historical reasons, may harbour deep distrust of the biomedical establishment. In the U.S., for much of the 20th century, the eugenics movement had resulted in a range of sterilization programs, discriminatory policies and scientific abuses (such as the infamous Tuskegee syphilis trials) that disproportionately targeted the poor and, especially, racial minorities such as African Americans.

While the eugenics movement might have been less established in Canada, where it did occur (e.g., the sterilization program in Alberta or the Indian hospitals in B.C.) it had most heavily affected Indigenous communities. In both countries, this shameful history has led to lower trust and usage of the health-care system by the affected communities.

As genetic medicine advances, many scientists and health researchers are pointing out the importance of having the diversity of human populations represented in genetic studies in order to gain medical insights that can benefit everyone. If we fail to fully engage these under-represented communities and ensure that genetics is not just another way to exploit and discriminate against them, then we risk worsening this historical and ongoing injustice.

New genetic technologies, such as gene editing, also bring issues of disability rights into sharper focus. While designer babies may not be an immediate concern, even the possibility of selecting and changing our offsprings characteristics raises thorny questions.

For example, what conditions count as medically necessarily to treat how about deafness, dwarfism, autism, or intersex conditions? Ultimately, it is about what kinds of people get to live, and who gets to make those decisions. Many disability rights advocates (e.g., the Down syndrome community) are already voicing concerns about what these emerging technologies mean for how their communities are seen and valued today.

We must make sure that the conversations around genetics are not only about generalized notions of safety or effectiveness, or concerns of playing God. These conversations must also encompass questions of access and justice, and acknowledge that the benefits and harms of genetic technologies, like any new technologies, are not distributed equally.

And these conversations must involve all communities (be they of different racial or ethnic background, gender or sexuality, and physical or cognitive abilities) in a way that ensures their voices are respected and heard.

This is a task that will involve concerted efforts from scientists, funders and industry, to build trust with these communities and to genuinely listen and respond to their concerns. And it will need to be done in collaboration with many partners, including schools, community and faith groups, and the art/entertainment industry.

The ability to understand and, perhaps one day, change our genetics has huge potential to improve human well-being. Lets make sure that everyone will enjoy these benefits, and that no communities are left behind, or worse yet, harmed in the process.

Johnny Kung is the director of new initiatives for the Personal Genetics Education Project (www.pged.org ) at Harvard Medical Schools Department of Genetics.

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Designer babies the not most urgent concern of genetic medicine ... - Toronto Star